Battistello Caracciolo

Giovanni Battista Caracciolo (1450-July 1508) was a Neapolitan condottiero who was Lord of Airola, Pietralcina, and Casalbore. He was also the husband of Dorotea Malatesta, daughter of Pandolfo IV Malatesta.

Biography
Giovanni Battista Caracciolo was born in Naples in 1450, and he led a company of infantrymen and six horses for the army of Naples against the Ottoman Empire in Otranto in 1481. In 1484, he fought against the Republic of Venice, against the Papal-backed rebellious barons in Naples in 1485, fought alongside Bartolomeo d'Alviano against the Papacy in 1486 (being captured alongside him), and fought for King Ferdinand II of Naples during the Italian War of 1494-98. In 1495, he defected to the Kingdom of France after the collapse of the Aragonese forces, and King Charles VIII of France invested him with Pietralcina, Casalbore, and Pagliara in return for his service. In April 1498, he was wounded by a cannon shot at Montecelio while fighting alongside Prospero Colonna. In December of that same year, he was hired by Lord Guidobaldo da Montefeltro of Urbino to fight for Venice against the Republic of Florence. During the Italian War of 1499-1504, he took part in the campaign against the Sforza of Milan at the start of the conflict, and he conquered Brescia, Pontevico, and Cremona. In February 1501, the Papal Captain-General Cesare Borgia kidnapped Caracciolo's wife Dorotea Malatesta, with whom he had an affair. In November 1503, he succeeded in conquering Faenza from the Papal army. In January 1504, ambassador Antonio Giustiniani succeeded in securing the release of Malatesta from Rome. His wife joined him at Faenza in February, and he proceeded to conquer Forli that same month. Caracciolo would later fight in the War of the League of Cambrai in northern Italy, losing Barco in March 1508 and losing a chance to win an easy victory at Castel Pietro in April. In July of that year, he returned to the Isola della Scala, where a member of the noble Dentice family of Aversa stabbed him in the back in revenge for Caracciolo earlier rebuking him for his poor foresight.